James Dillon (b. 1950) has been published by Peters Edition
since 1982. In that year, Parjanya-Vata, for solo cello, won
the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse
für Neue Musik. The First String Quartet was premiered by
the Arditti Quartet the following year at the Huddersfield
Contemporary Music Festival – one of many festivals regularly
featuring Dillon’s music. Other works include his ‘German
Triptych’ (Überschreiten, 1985; helle Nacht, 1987; Blitzschlag,
1996) and the opera Philomela (2004). In 2003 he was awarded
an honorary doctorate by the University of Huddersfield and
in 2007 took up the position of Professor of Composition at
the University of Minnesota.